In the 1950s to the 1980s posters bridged the divide between fine-art traditions and modern political movements. Street poster boards and of course, any blank concrete space in the pathway of the public eye, were adorned with posters. Sooner than later, these boards had posters pasted on top of posters and so as the outer layer fragmented, the image of the inner layers of older posters would re-emerge, giving you a natural but weathered collage of issues and images juxtaposed on top of one another. Another form of street art had now emerged - albeit chaotically and without an intervening human hand!

Unlike Street Art, which captured the imagination of mainly youthful and defiant artists, these naturally created collages became the inspiration for another stream of public artists who were responsible for the birth of wheat paste art. For example, some of Miso's wheat paste art is inspired by Russian Constructivism. Her pasted up drawings are very detailed and close to life size.

Miso - Liverpool St CBD (Melbourne) 2009 (detailed view).

The Street Art movement - like so many other movements in the past - quickly morphed into a myriad of different styles (e.g. Paste Modernism versus Russian Constructivism etc.), subject matter (e.g. spray can memorials versus Graffiti Art) and techniques (e.g. stencils versus paste-up). What is interesting is the way an art form matures, from its embryo beginnings into a level of artistic sophistry that was not initially fore-told nor foreseen, but rather meandered haphazardly through an artistic and learning process - the latter being verbally/existentially transmitted rather than being structurally taught and communicated.

I hope you enjoy glimpses of the exhibition - Paste Modernism 4 (curated by Ben Frost) - which was featured at the aMBUSH Gallery and The Living Mall (Sydney, Australia) from Friday the 27th November to the 24th of January 2016.

What is Paste-Up? (Definition by Ben Frost)The ”Paste-Up” is an ever-expanding and innovative form of street art that involves an artist making their work onto varying sizes of paper and then applying it to walls and surfaces within their urban environment using wheat paste or wall paper glue. Whether as black and white multiple photocopies, colorful hand painted mural or thought provoking text pieces, the “Paste-Up” is an immediate and bold contemporary art-form.

The medium explores not only aesthetic values, but is often politically and socially motivated – which allows for experimentation by both accomplished artists as well as people with little or no artistic training. With all other street art genres, a hierarchy is in place based usually on skill and years of training and practice of each artist (aerosol-can control/complexity of a stencil etc.) Most “Paste-Up” artists also have years of experience, creating intricate and well-planned artworks – however anybody right now, could find a photograph or jpeg that resonates with them, take it to a digital printer and with relatively little expense, print it out in wallpaper width sheets and put it up on the streets.

History of Paste Modernism by Ben FrostThe first Paste Modernism was in 2008 and was held in an abandoned 5-story stairwell of Hibernian House in Surrey Hills (Sydney). At the time we were noticing a lot of Paste Ups being put up around Sydney, and understood it to be a rising new genre of street art to revival stencils and murals. An open call was put out mostly by word of mouth amongst the Paste-Up community, to arrive at the stairwell on 30th August to adhere to the walls their paper creations in any way they liked. Around 25 artists participated in this “secret” exhibition and we gathered on the top floor of the stairwell that night to meet each other, discuss our artworks and celebrate the beginning of something new.

Paste Modernism 2 was held at the Lo-Fi project space above Kinsella’s on Taylor Square (Sydney) in 2010. Over 150 artists participated from around the world in a huge 800 square meter space. The panels were auctioned for charity and over (AUS)$8,000 was raised and donated to the Queensland (a State in Australia) flood victims. In this exhibition we realized that we could take digital submissions from artists overseas and print their work locally and paste them within the show – to make Paste Modernism a truly global participation.

Paste Modernism 3 was a part of the Outpost Project street art festival on Cockatoo Island (Sydney) in 2011. The event had submissions from over 360 Australian and international artists and was installed over a one week period. In this event we came to understand the genre of “Paste-Ups” and Paste Modernism was becoming an increasingly inclusive and “democratic” process – such that anyone could be involved – even people who weren’t visual artists. Not only could we take submissions from anywhere in the world (both digitally and physically) but people of any age group – including children. Outpost Project was presented by the Sydney Habour Federation Trust and aMBUSH Gallery.

Paste Modernism 4 (Curator Ben Frost) Statement of Exhibition: Politically charged in its content, democratic in its process and universally divisive in its nature as an art form, the practice of paste-ups is given its due as an often overlooked but globally embraced means of expression by Australian exhibition series - Paste Modernism.

Curated by Ben Frost and presented in partnership with aMBUSH Gallery, Paste Modernism launches its fourth incarnation. The exhibition featured the wheat-pasted paper creations of over 500 artists from across the globe, plastered to every available inch of aMBUSH Gallery’s wall space in a multi-colored onslaught of digital reproductions, hand-painted posters and textual works that explore the social and political concerns of modernity.

The series’ monumental growth from humble beginnings mirrors the silent paste-up boom the world has experienced, and Paste Modernism 4 is a celebration of both. Artists of all ages, levels of experience, backgrounds and subject matter have been invited to submit their works and collaborate on the biggest collage in Paste Modernism’s history.

The exhibition also featured a hands-on event in which visitors to the exhibition could paste up illustrations or images on an evolving collage. All equipment (glue, brooms, buckets, scissors etc.) was on-site, and so visitors were asked to make or bring their paste-ups to the exhibition.

Collage 1 – a work in progress. Various paste-ups by visitors to the exhibition.

The workshop “tutor”(for want of a better descriptor) was Konsumterra (aka Chris Tamm). His pseudonym refers to the fear of not possessing enough commodities to preserve your social status and the consumption of the planet.

Three contributors to Collage 1 – a work in progress.

Konsumterra uses multiple styles and media, which usually included re-purposed and recycled found materials with hand-made wheat paste. He loves to encourage others to do the same. It was a pleasure to meet and talk to him.

My five minute flower contribution to Collage 1 – a work in progress.

Visitors were also asked to join the PASTE MODERNISM Facebook page for any updates about the installation - see https://www.facebook.com/groups/pastemodernism - or they could email Ben at - info@pastemodernism.com.

Some Images of the ExhibitionAs none of the exhibition collages contain information about who were the contributing artists or groups, we shall just present each exhibition collage and show a few detailed images of each collage without attribution. In doing so, we hope to inspire some of you to join and participate in this street art movement.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

PreambleThis blogspot exhibits many of my students outputs from a variety of workshops. There are one, two and five day workshops as well as workshops that have a different focus. Nevertheless, it always surprises me how much I learn from my students and how enthusiastic they are to learn and so for your convenience, I have listed the workshop posts below.

IntroductionTo celebrate the Print Council of Australia’s 50 Years in 2016, Art Quill Studio in Arcadia Vale, NSW will be holding a series of workshops during 2016 tutored by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. The workshops have been structured so that they can be attended as individual workshops or as an on-going series. The workshop program will start with basic printmaking techniques and advance to mastering complex multiple imaging/overprinting relationships and techniques. The techniques are suitable for printing on fabric and paper substrates.

Today's post highlights the 2016 Art Quill workshop program and gives links to workshops so that you can view past students outcomes. For Australian enquiries please email me at Marie-Therese. For overseas enquires these workshops may be held in overseas venues provided that there are enough participants per workshop (10-15 participants) and that within each country a sufficient number of workshops can be organized in order to make the journey cost-effective (5-10 workshops). Please email me at Marie-Therese to initiate a discussion on feasibility of such an overseas venture.

On-line and in person Master Classes are also available. For more details of these Master Classes email me at Marie-Therese. For Master Class outcomes see - Barbara Scott.

Barbara Scott's sublimated print on fabric incorporating texture studies was part of her Master Class program.

Workshop OneDate and Time: Monday 7th March 2016, 9.30 am - 4 pm.Location: Art Quill Studio, 51 Donnelly Road, Arcadia Vale, NSW 2283.Tutor: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.Email:Marie-Therese.Title: Image Dreamings: Creation of Printing Tools.Prior Experience: All levels welcome.Description: In this one day workshop participants will learn how to create a lino block image, an 'eraser' stamp, styrene stamp and stencil. Image transfer and carving techniques will be covered. Participants will have the opportunity to print with their finished tools and explore the lines, textures and patterns created in this class.Workshop Fee: $125.00.

IntroductionGalerie ’t Haentje te Paart is situated in Spanjaardstraat 19, 4331 EN Middelburg (The Netherlands). The gallery director and owner is Iet Snoeij-van Pelt. For over twenty years the gallery has been exhibiting modern, figurative and abstract work by Dutch and foreign artists using media such as graphics, drawings, water color, gouache, acrylic/oil on canvas, ArtCloth, glass, photography, sculpture, ceramics and spatial designs. It held exhibitions every four or five weeks. It also participated in the monthly - “Art and Culture Route” - in Middelburg.

It is sad that the last exhibition at the Gallery closed on 21st November 2015. The Gallery did so much to promote art, not only internationally and nationally, but moreover it also strove to introduce to the Middelburg citizenry the forefront of artistic endeavours.

A lovely sculpture in the gardens of the gallery. It was created by Iet Snoeij-van Pelt.
Photography Courtesy of Els van Baarle.

It is with great pleasure to announce our Guest Editor - Jan Snoeij - who took all the photographs of the artworks and provided the information about them. Thank you Iet Snoeij-van Pelt for over twenty years of service to the arts and thank you Jan for this post.

Marie-Therese Wisniowski.

The Last Exhibition @ Galerie ’t Haentje te Paart (The Netherlands)

Guest Editor - Jan Snoeij

The last exhibition at the Galerie ’t Haentje te Paart (The Netherlands) opened on the 1st November 2015. It comprised of 33 national and international artists. The 33 artists in the exhibition are as follows:

On the wall from left to right - Artist: Wim Zurné, Carola Mokveld (x 2 artworks), Hannie Poelmeijer, Els van Baarle (diptych) and Bob Haspel. On the left plinth : Coby Boone, on the ground - Mariëlle v/d Berg, on the second plinth - Willy Leijnse, on the third plinth - Will Schrod.

Published in Studio La Primitive Arts Zine

Marie-Therese was invited by the editor of Studio La Primitive Arts Zine, Robyn Werkhoven, to be a 'Feature Artist' in the Arts Zine which features articles and interviews with national and international visual artists, poets and writers and glimpses into their world of art and their creative processes. The article, which features Marie-Therese’s art practice and career is titled, ' A Mapping of Anthropogenic Change' has been published in the May 2018 Issue 25 of the Studio La Primitive Arts Zine (the article appears on page 86). Click on the Image to get to the article.

2018 CrossXpollinatioN Exhibition - Journey's

Marie-Therese has been invited to be a 'Feature Artist' at the '2018 CrossXpollinatioN' exhibition which is themed 'Journey's'. Her ArtCloth Installation 'Timelines: An Environmental Journey' will be exhibited at the Colac Otway Performing Arts & Cultural Centre, Colac, Victoria from the 7th - 29th July 2018. The installation will feature works employing her signature MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS) technique on synthetic fibres.Click on the image to see how the Gondwana II was created.

Art Quill Studio @ Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair.

2018 Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair at the International Convention Centre, Sydney, from the 20th – 24th June.Art Quill Studio can be found at stand no. G29_LP1 where my unique and contemporary hand dyed, hand painted and hand printed ArtCloth fabric lengths, fat quarters, fabric samplers and scarves will be available as well as my one-off/limited edition digitally designed ArtCloth fabric lengths.Click on the image to view some of my fabric lengths and the techniques used to make them.

I have uploaded a new Glossary on my blogspot.The Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms is highly focused, containing definitions and terms pertinent to the specific categories in the title. Click on the image to access it!

About Me

I work full time as a studio artist, researcher, author, curator, speaker and tutor. I am also the Director of Art Quill Studio, The Education Division of Art Quill & Co. Pty. Ltd. at Arcadia Vale, NSW, Australia. I teach as a casual lecturer at The University of Newcastle (Australia) and I am the former co-editor of Textile Fibre Forum art magazine.

Employing my signature techniques I specialize in the area of ArtCloth, artist printmaker books and limited edition prints.

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My Most Visited Posts"When Rainforests Ruled" - ArtCloth Exhibition

My Scarves @ The Australian Craft Awards

My unique, hand dyed and printed silk rayon velvet and pashmina scarves are available for purchase. To purchase a scarf please contact - studio@artquill.com.au.Click on the image above to see my velvet ArtCloth scarves.

Welcome to Art Quill Studio

Art Quill Studio is a trademark of Art Quill & Co P/L, which is an Australian Company with no subsidiaries outside of Australia.

This blog will be dedicated to arousing world wide interest in: (a) using the medium of cloth to create a work of art; (b) promoting works on paper; (c) exploring concepts that are the basis of my current artworks; (d) offering opinions on art issues; (e) providing art resources to the public at large.